COARV Chapter 9

He panicked and wrapped his hands around mine. My hand swelled red and puffy. They say when you're truly angry, you don't even feel the pain right away—that was exactly my state.

"Kallis."

My hand throbbed slowly.

"If I were you, Kallis Haneton."

I glared at Kallis as I continued.

"I would have broken off our engagement long ago and proposed to the saint."

"What?"

Kallis froze, his face stricken with shock.

"That's... what do you mean? The woman I love is you."

"Who would understand a man who holds the hand of a woman he doesn't love so pitifully right in front of the woman he claims to love?"

"Seria!"

Perhaps Kallis was right—maybe I was the one who understood too little. Lina was simply in pain, so it was only natural for Kallis to help her.

But then why was I this angry? Was it because I knew Lina wouldn't love him?

Since possessing Seria's body, I'd spent an entire year desperately struggling to survive by reading the room. That meant the original story wielded immense power over me.

So the fact that Kallis was the sub-male lead remained unchanged. He devoted himself to the female lead but wasn't chosen by her and committed suicide.

I had liked Kallis. At first, I healed his arm just to survive, but I couldn't help but like the Kallis who gradually let down his guard around me, who started smiling, who occasionally teased me.

At first it had been obligation for survival, but gradually it became harder to suppress my growing feelings for him. If a happy ending was already prepared for the main characters, couldn't the supporting characters be a little happy too? I'd rationalized it that way and hadn't suppressed my feelings for him.

My fiancé, who had eventually knelt before me and proposed.

'Seria, if you have to make a political marriage anyway, aren't I your best option?'

'...What are you talking about? You're the one who needs the political marriage urgently, not me.'

'Your words still cut to the bone. Anyway, Seria, I'm not so bad, am I?'

Before meeting Lina, Kallis had been troubled by vassals pressuring him into a political marriage. He was quite the romantic and didn't want a formulaic marriage.

In contrast, Seria had been relatively free from political marriage pressure. Still, I'd thought marriage with Kallis wasn't bad. Both the sub-male lead and the villainess faced equally miserable endings, after all.

If there was a way for both of us to reach a peaceful ending right before our eyes, it wouldn't be wrong to be a bit greedy. That's what I'd thought.

The priestesses had tried to dissuade me, asking if I truly intended to marry. Worried that a Stern would belong to a single family rather than the temple, I'd promised not to forget my duties as a Stern before I could proceed with the marriage to Kallis.

We weren't desperately in love like protagonists in romance novels, but I truly liked Kallis.

But Kallis knew nothing. Every time I looked at him, it was like watching a foolish, tragic moth leaping into flames without knowing anything.

That upset me so much...

My vision blurred. I covered my face with both hands and turned away from him completely.

"...Seria?"

Kallis's voice, which had been angry this whole time, weakened instantly. Standing before me, he pulled at the hands covering my face. Kallis muttered in a complicated voice.

"I never thought I'd make you cry... Really.... I'm sorry. Seria, don't cry. I was wrong."

Kallis embraced me and wiped away my tears.

"Let's go to Haneton territory right after the wedding ceremony. It's a beautiful place. Once I finish this treatment, I won't see the saint again. Don't cry."

Several minutes passed before I finally calmed down. Then embarrassment washed over me. Perhaps because Seria had such a strong sense of pride, crying in front of others in this body always brought overwhelming shame afterward.

Still, Kallis acted like my fiancé should, knowing this tendency of mine well. He walked with me and spoke. The atmosphere had somehow improved, and Kallis spoke almost jokingly.

"And I can't break off the engagement now, Seria."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm definitely going to marry you. If I want to marry a precious Stern, I should put up with this much."

"Honestly.... Just don't be late on the wedding day."

"Alright. I absolutely won't be late."

"Hard to believe."

"Why?"

"Where would you find a woman who could easily trust a fiancé who suggested changing her wedding dress because of one word from the saint?"

"...Ah. You've been holding onto that incident?"

Kallis made a troubled expression.

"That's... I have no excuse. Was I wrong?"

"I even considered breaking off our engagement."

"What? It was that serious?"

Kallis spoke in a flustered voice.

"But Seria, back then I was angry after hearing what the saint said."

"Kallis, how would you feel if I suggested changing your wedding suit because of His Grace Lesche?"

"Why is His Grace the Grand Duke suddenly appearing in our conversation?"

"How would you feel?"

"......"

Kallis stared intently into space before sighing.

"I'm sorry."

He escorted me all the way to the stables. After mounting my horse, I glanced back. Kallis was listening to something from the healing priestesses who had arrived in the meantime.

It must be about Lina.

I recalled what Kallis had said before we reached the stables.

'Once I finish treating the saint today, I won't see her again after that. Seria, I swear I'll become a faithful husband to you alone.'

He was the head of House Haneton. He'd been designated as Lina's protector, so this much was unavoidable, he said. I'd nodded slowly.

When I glanced back after passing through the main gate, Kallis still stood there like a dot in the distance.

Lina, looking haggard, brightened at the sight of Kallis.

"Kallis! I...!"

"Lina."

Kallis approached and sighed.

"Today will be the last time we call each other by name."

Lina's eyes widened. She might shed tears any moment. He thought she would definitely cry.

"...I understand, Kallis."

But contrary to Kallis's expectation, Lina accepted it surprisingly calmly. Instead, Kallis had to ask again.

"You're not asking why?"

"Baron Aison... scolded me. And I heard a few words from Seria's priestess too."

From the temple's perspective, Lina as the saint was a precious existence beyond comparison. That didn't mean they had any reason to mistreat Seria, who was a Stern. They were the ones who'd dispatched a high-ranking priestess all the way to Berke territory just for Seria's cold.

"Then starting tomorrow, we'll call each other 'Saint' and 'Marquess Haneton'?"

"Yes. After the wedding, it'll be difficult to even meet."

"You're such a precious friend to me...."

Tears glistened transparently in Lina's eyes.

"I wish we'd met earlier."

"......"

Kallis said nothing. On his wrist was a bracelet with a hexagonal demonic crystal attached.

It was unfamiliar, and it didn't seem like Kallis's taste. More importantly, it looked small on Kallis's wrist. Lina knew immediately.

It was a gift from his fiancée, Seria.

Wrapped in gloomy feelings, Lina suddenly said.

"I want to become friends with Seria."

"...You're calling her by name? When did you two become close?"

"Um, not yet, but."

"If you're not close, using first names goes against etiquette, Lina."

"Always with the etiquette, etiquette!"

Lina finally burst into tears she'd been suppressing.

"Can't you see I'm holding it in? I'm already terrified because they're telling me to go to the Grand Temple, and I'm holding back about losing a precious friend like you too...!"

Tears rolled down from her eyes. Kallis panicked and moved to wipe Lina's tears, then hesitated and curled his hand into a fist.

The hand that didn't gently wipe them as usual felt cruel. Lina cried out, tears streaming down.

"Do you know how many times my world has changed now? You said you were my protector. You said you'd protect me forever! Were those words all lies? I was happy enough just with those words, so why...!"

"I'm sorry, Lina. Don't cry. Stop crying."

Lina buried her face in her hands and wept. Yellowish and bluish bruises mottled the backs of her hands. Kallis's heart softened.

'She must be frightened.'

When the body hurts, the heart weakens too. He patted Lina's back. How much time passed? Her heaving back finally calmed after a long while. Lina wiped her wet cheeks with Kallis's handkerchief and said.

"...Kallis. I want to go see the glacier."

"The glacier? Why suddenly?"

"I said I wanted to become friends with Seria. I'm also a Stern, so if I go to the glacier, I can lighten Seria's burden, and then we can become close faster."

"Lina, I understand your feelings, but your physical condition isn't that good right now."

Lina smiled brightly through her tear-stained face.

"Are you worried I'll steal your fiancée's reputation? Don't worry. That's not it. Um, though I am a bit envious that your fiancée receives praise from many people...."

She spoke playfully, but Kallis's hardened expression didn't soften at all. Lina bit her pale lips hard and said.

"You won't allow even this? Then I'll go alone."

"Lina!"

Eventually Kallis looked at Lina and sighed. He already understood her personality well. If told no, Lina was the type to climb out a window at night and go anyway. She was still a saint under the protection of Marquess Haneton's name.

It would be troublesome if anything happened to Lina, and more importantly, today was truly the last time.

"Fine. But we're just taking a quick look and coming right back."

Lina jumped up excitedly.

"Let's go secretly, just the two of us."

"Secretly?"

"It's fun! Like a movie."

"What's a movie?"

"Um, I mean like a novel? Like a play."

"A word from your world."

"Yeah!"

Lina's eyes sparkled. She had such an unfamiliar smile. She said she came from another world.... Kallis enjoyed listening to Lina's stories.

"Tell me more about that."

"About what?"

"About the place you came from."

"Oh, so...."

Just in case, Kallis told one of his knights that he would quietly visit the glacier with Lina and then left.